Transcripts

The New Business of Education-Educational Technology

SUSIE GHARIB: Many school administrators are turning to technology as a way to increase school quality and teacher efficiency. And it so happens that there's plenty of new educational technology available. As Jeff Yastine reports, many high-tech companies see education as a market with tremendous potential for their products.

JEFF YASTINE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: When it comes to education and technology, there's old school -- a teacher and a class -- and there's new school, with devices like this high-tech active board, displaying lessons electronically, while students write directly on the screen. In fact, here at Nob Hill elementary school in Broward County, Florida, technology is in heavy use nearly everywhere, from wireless Internet nodes in each classroom to laptops bought and paid for by the school district right down to the Internet portals dedicated to use by teachers and students.

Computers of course, have been used in schools for years. The difference now is the variety of software and hardware that's available to enhance teaching and learning in the classroom. It amounts to nothing less than a revolution that's being embraced by larger numbers of school districts and supplied by an increasingly robust education technology marketplace.

And a glimpse of that marketplace is seen at conferences like this, where companies across the tech spectrum -- from giant names like Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Adobe to niche education providers like Vernier Software and technology -- pitching software and hardware of all kinds to educators. This year, one of the hottest areas in educational tech is test-taking software. It enables wireless devices like these to be used to quiz entire classes electronically and the results tabulated instantly. A company called Qwizdom has gone a step farther in its software by making correct answers the fuel to power race cars in a competitive car racing game.

And if that's not enough, the quiz results are then stored and correlated, so that teachers and administrators can see if classes are making enough progress to meet state standards on the subject. Not long ago, teachers were thought too stodgy to take advantage of such advanced technology. But Mike Eason, executive director of the Florida Educational Technology Conference, says there's a changing of the guard going on, as technology-literate educators take over.

MIKE EASON, EXEC. DIR., FL EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY CONF.: As that population, that bubble goes of all these kids that have grown up with the technology, that they become educators and become part of that education community and they have embraced the technology already, they're going to use the technology more and more in that education process.

YASTINE: But technology involves big dollars in fiscally conservative school boards and they need to analyze what technology to buy, how quickly it will become obsolete and whether it's truly effective for teaching and learning. Schools also need infrastructure and support services. Advisers like Dr. Jeanine Gendron say school boards need a strategic plan and a commitment for technology in the classroom to be truly effective.

JEANINE GENDRON, DIR., INSTRUCTIONAL TECH., BROWARD CTY. PUBLIC SCHOOLS: You really have to look at what your vision is in the district and where as a whole you want teaching and learning to go. And that vision will actually drive the decisions that are made and take you to the new learning environment.

YASTINE: Right now, annual sales of educational technology are estimated to be worth up to $5 billion. But as schools and teachers become more comfortable using technology, the educational market could be the next big frontier for high tech. Jeff Yastine, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Sunrise, Florida.